At the Pleasant Valley School Board meeting on Feb. 24, a parent got up and addressed the board about the possible teachers strike. She said she gets all her information from social media.

“The fact that I have to rely on rumors is ridiculous,” she said.

Now, I don’t know who she was criticizing. Maybe it was the school district, maybe the teachers union or maybe me. I don’t know. What I do know is that you don’t have to rely on rumors. Buy a subscription to your local newspaper.

I’m a very calm person, but her comment felt like a real slap in the face to those of us who work so very hard to keep the public informed. Apparently, she doesn’t have a subscription to any local newspaper, and probably won’t ever see this column.

I know I’m preaching to the choir, but it was so aggravating to hear her statement and a bit saddening, too. Thank you, though, to all of the subscribers of the Times News. Your support of us is truly appreciated. Not all newspapers can say the same.

The Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina did a study of more than 9,000 daily and weekly local newspapers in their database from across the United States. Of those 9,000 newspapers, almost 1,800 of them have closed since 2004. About 1,700 of them were weekly newspapers, but more than 60 were daily newspapers.

In a span of 15 years from 2004 to 2019, the total weekday circulation for both dailies and weeklies dropped from 122 million to 73 million. The loss has been driven by readers moving to online sources, but also due to metro and regional newspapers reducing distribution to suburban and rural areas.

According to the study, more than 2,000 counties in the nation’s 3,143 counties do not print a daily newspaper. About 200 counties nationwide do not have any newspaper - daily or weekly - printed in them. Pennsylvania has two counties in this category: Montour and Union counties.

Carbon County, you are so incredibly lucky to have the Times News in your community. Too many communities do not have information about what is going on in their own backyards. They don’t know what their school boards, supervisors, council members and commissioners are doing in their meetings. They don’t know about zoning issues and tax increases. They don’t know about the upcoming community events or the achievements of their students and athletes. You do.

I’m not saying this because I work for the Times News. I’m saying this because I’m sad and disappointed about what so many people have thrown away, taken for granted. There’s an old saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” You have a gem here. Don’t lose it.

That being said, the Times News is not on the brink of closing. We fully intend to be here for many, many years to come. We are still family owned, and I thank God for that because these are people who understand the value and importance of daily news within and about the community.